Man charged in connection with rape of 11-year-old

Surrey , B.C. — Six charges were laid Monday against a man in connection with the abduction and sexual assault last week of an 11-year-old girl.

Brian Edward Abrosimo appeared for less than a minute in provincial court to face two charges of assault with a weapon, and one count each of unlawful confinement, sexual assault, kidnapping and assault causing bodily harm.

“I need an adjournment to Aug. 23,” Mr. Abrosimo told judge Rick Miller. He did not have a lawyer present.

The accused is a burly man with a closely shaved head and a salt-and-pepper goatee.

Corporal Dale Carr told a news conference earlier in nearby Langley that RCMP arrested the 41-year-old man Saturday at his home in Surrey.

The girl and her 15-year-old friend had been riding their bicycles Thursday afternoon in Langley, east of Vancouver, when a van came up from behind and knocked the older girl into a ditch.

The driver then grabbed the 11-year-old and forced her into the van. She was dropped off in a rural area of nearby Surrey and had been sexually assaulted.

“This incident sent a wave of uncertainty throughout the community of Langley and quite likely throughout the entire lower mainland,” Cpl. Carr said.

Cpl. Carr said the victim is at home with her family.

RCMP are also looking at a possible connection between the girl's abduction and the attempted abduction of a woman in a suburb of Kelowna on Friday.